Electronic devices that use liquid crystal displays (LCD) have been steadily expanding in popularity. As a consequence, the need to produce LCDs having reduced weight and thickness is widely recognized. Typical LCDs use glass substrates with transparent electrodes and a liquid crystal material placed in a gap between the electrodes. Sophisticated driving circuitry is necessary in order to energize selected segments of the LCD to create the desired image. The drive circuitry is typically an integrated circuit or microprocessor.
The problem of connecting the drive circuitry to the LCD has created a number of solutions in the literature. A typical configuration is shown in FIG. 1 where an LCD 5 is coupled to a printed circuit board 20 that has a driver circuit 30 attached thereto. The driver circuit 30 is coupled to the LCD 5 by conductive elastomers 40 that are sandwiched between the LCD and the printed circuit board. A clamping means 50, typically clips, brackets or screws, is used to apply compressive force to the LCD 5 and the printed circuit board 20 in order to clamp the entire structure together. It can be clearly seen from the drawings that this type of structure is quite complex and very thick, thereby limiting its use in applications where thin and light products are required.
FIG. 2 shows another approach utilized in the prior art where the LCD 5 is coupled to the drive circuitry 30 by a flexible circuit 22. Electrical connection between the flex circuit and the LCD is made by an intermediate flexible coupling or by a conductive adhesive 24.
It is clear that prior art approaches to coupling the driver circuitry to the LCD leaves much to be desired. It would be highly advantageous if an LCD package could be made that results in an LCD with lower profile and smaller area that is also less complex to assemble than conventional systems.